Somatic Experiencing Therapy Interventions
What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a form of alternative therapy aimed at treating trauma and stressor-related disorders like PTSD.
The primary goal of SE is to modify the trauma-related stress response through bottom-up processing (body first and then mind/brain) vs. top-down processing (talking first and then body).
Felt Sense
Use of felt sense: According to Eugene Gendllin, Ph.D., who coined the term in his book Focusing,
“A felt sense is not a mental experience, but a physical one, a bodily awareness of a situation or person or event. [It is] an internal aura that encompasses everything you feel and know about the given subject at a given time – encompasses it and communicates it to you all at once rather than detail by detail.”
Why Sensations?
When we feel our sensations and feelings, we can fully process our experiences rather than simply dealing with our thoughts (e.g. talking about the content/stories/narratives/beliefs)
Sensations help survivors of trauma and others who are disconnected from their body reconnect to their body slowly. Disconnection
General Map For Tracking Sensation (From Somatic Experiencing)
What do you notice/experience/feel in your body right now?
Where in your body do you feel that?
Get details of the sensation experience
Observe what happens next
Broaden awareness to the rest of the body
Explore other options and choices
Use open-ended questions such as:
What do you feel in your body?
Where is the feeling in your body?
What are you experiencing now?
Use invitational language such as:
What else do you notice as you explore that sensation?
Are you willing to stay with that sensation and see what happens?
Explore the sensation with questions that invite detail to help focus awareness:
Where does it begin and end?
What are the qualities of that sensation?
Notice if it has a shape, size or color.
If the feeling spreads, notice if it has a direction?
Does it go from outward to inward or inward to outward?
Do you notice a center point to that tension, pain, etc.?
Broaden awareness with such questions as:
When you feel ___________, what happens in the rest of your body? For example: When you feel that
warmth in your chest, what else do you notice?
Move through time with such questions as:
What happens next?
As you follow that sensation where does it go? How does it change?
Where or how does it move?
If it’s stuck---how might it move if it could?
Help them to savor and deepen into the sensation with statements such as:
Allow yourself to enjoy that tingly sensation, warmth, etc.
Take all the time you need.